On any given week, Ashley Thompson might be preparing the American Hospital Association’s CEO for congressional testimony, reviewing federal drug pricing proposals, or gathering feedback from hospital and health care system leaders across the country. The details change constantly. The core responsibility does not.
“My job,” Thompson says, “is to achieve changes in law and regulation so that hospitals can improve health and health care for their patients and communities.”
That mission has guided Thompson’s career for more than two decades at the American Hospital Association (AHA), where she serves as Senior Vice President of Public Policy Analysis and Development. In 2026, she brought that perspective to a new role as the American Hospital Association’s representative on the Board of Directors of the Organ Donation and Transplantation Alliance (The Alliance).
Her work sits at the intersection of policy, operations, and patient care. It requires understanding both the mechanics of health care systems and the human consequences of the decisions that shape them.
“Health care changes constantly,” she says. “You can become proficient in one subject area of health care, but new issues emerge every day. You just keep saying yes and learning.”
A Different Path into Health Care
Thompson grew up in Chicago surrounded by medicine. Her stepfather, grandfather, brother, and sister were physicians. For much of her childhood, becoming a doctor seemed inevitable.
“I grew up on the 50th floor of an apartment building in Chicago, in a family of physicians,” she recalls. “We were a very health care–focused family.”
But during college at Bucknell University, where she ultimately majored in English, she realized clinical practice was not the right fit. A chance discovery in the career counseling office introduced her to another path: healthcare administration.
She immediately recognized its appeal. “It was the challenge of high-profile management,” Thompson says, “but with a social service aspect of giving back toothers. I loved that combination.”
She went on to earn a master’s degree in healthcare administration from the University of Michigan and began her career inside hospitals and health systems. Early roles at UChicago Medicine, NorthShore University Health System, and Sinai Chicago exposed her to the operational realities behind health care delivery.
Those experiences shaped her understanding of the system she would later help represent in Washington. “You see the complexity firsthand,” she says. “Hospitals are trying to balance quality, access, and cost every single day.”
Early Exposure to Transplantation
Thompson’s early hospital career also brought her into contact with transplantation. Shortly after graduate school, she worked as an internal consultant supporting several transplant programs. Kidney, liver, and bone marrow transplant services were among the departments she helped analyze as part of clinical resource management efforts. Her task was to help physicians and administrators map clinical pathways and streamline care delivery.
“We were looking at how physicians could align their practices so that transplantation could be done more efficiently,” she says. “Transplantation was an area that I worked closely with early in my career.”
Although transplantation would not become her primary professional focus, those early experiences left a lasting impression about the complexity of the work and the collaboration it requires. “It showed me how many disciplines have to come together for something like transplantation to work,” she says.
A Career in Policy
In 2001, Thompson moved to Washington, D.C., when her husband began law school after serving in the Army for seven years. They met as college freshmen at Bucknell and now their three children will all be in college next year.
What began as networking for hospital roles led unexpectedly to an opportunity at the American Hospital Association. “I wasn’t looking for a job at the association,” she says. “I was networking to work at a hospital, and they hired me. It was unusual.”
Nearly 25 years later, she leads the AHA’s policy development process, working with hundreds of hospital and health system leaders to shape the organization’s positions on major health care issues. Her team of 24 analysts and policy experts focuses on four primary areas: Medicare payment, coverage and Medicaid policy, quality and patient safety, and health care data and research.
Together, they help translate the real-world challenges facing hospitals into federal policy priorities. “We work with about 450 hospital leaders in our policy development process,” Thompson says. “Once we determine a policy position, we work with external counsel to draft legislation or regulatory proposals, and our government relations team helps move those ideas forward on Capitol Hill.”
Issues That Cross Every Part of Health Care
Many of the issues Thompson works on affect the entire health care system, including the organ donation and transplantation community.
Affordability is one of them. “We’re hearing about health care costs from every direction right now,” she says. “That touches every aspect of care.”
Workforce shortages present another challenge. Immigration policy, training pipelines, and workforce retention all influence the availability of physicians, nurses, and specialized clinicians who support transplant programs.
Drug pricing policy is also becoming increasingly relevant. “The high cost of drugs affects many areas of medicine, including transplantation,” she notes. “The policy environment around drug pricing is changing rapidly.”
These issues illustrate how interconnected the broader health care system is with organ donation and transplantation. “Everything is connected,” she says. “Policies that affect hospitals ultimately affect the patients and programs they serve.”
Mentorship and the Power of Networks
Throughout her career, Thompson credits mentorship and professional relationships as critical influences. Many of those mentors have been hospital executives she worked with through the AHA. “I work with all these amazing hospital and health system CEOs,” she says, “and all they want to do is improve the health of their communities and their patients. They are humble servant leaders. I’m lucky that I’ve been able to form deep personal connections with hospital leaders across the country.”
Those relationships have shaped not only her professional development but also her leadership philosophy. One lesson in particular has stayed with her.
“My former boss once told me, ‘We’re all juggling. You just have to remember which balls are glass,’” she says. “Family, your health, those are the glass balls. The rest you can drop sometimes.”
The advice helped her navigate the pressures of health policy work while maintaining perspective. “You don’t have to know everything,” she says. “You just have to keep learning.”
To do that, she attended a Harvard Advanced Management program several years ago where she says she learned about leadership and the importance of organizational culture. She noted that five of the 170 participants were in health care, allowing her to build new connections outside of hospitals and health care. “We stay connected and are gathering for a reunion in May.”
The Role of The Alliance
That spirit of shared learning is one reason Thompson welcomed the opportunity to serve on the Board of Directors of the Organ Donation and Transplantation Alliance.
The Alliance brings together professionals from across the donation and transplant ecosystem to address complex challenges collectively. Organizations like the AHA play a complementary role by representing hospitals and health systems that participate in donation and transplantation.
“The Alliance creates a space where different parts of the system can learn from each other,” Thompson says. “That kind of collaboration is essential for improving care.”
Her policy background adds another perspective to the board’s work, particularly when national policy decisions intersect with clinical practice.
Looking Forward
After more than two decades in health policy, Thompson remains motivated by the same principle that first drew her into health care administration.
“I was raised with the idea that when you’re given great privilege, a lot is expected of you in return,” she says. That sense of responsibility continues to guide her work.
“The challenges we’re dealing with today are some of the same ones we faced 20 years ago,” Thompson says. “Quality, access, and cost. Finding the right balance among those three remains one of health care’s greatest challenges.” But progress happens through collaboration, persistence, and a willingness to engage across disciplines.
For Thompson, that is exactly where organizations like The Alliance play a critical role.
“We’re all working toward the same goal,” she says. “Moving a very complicated system forward so that patients and communities receive the care they need.”
